Blurry Vision

by Glen
(Bohemia, ny)

Q: I am 61 years old and have had astigmatism all my life. My latest pair of glasses seem to be sharp in one eye and blurry in the other.

I've had the lenses changed but I feel he may have just changed the dominant eye and left the weak eye alone to be dismissed by my brain. I don't feel I am being served correctly.

Is this possible?


A: Hello Glen,

If you had astigmatism all your life and had good eyeglasses before this last one, then is not normal to have a pair of glasses that you cannot see well.

Usually, when you go to a consultation you have two situations:

1.You don’t need new lenses because your astigmatism remained constant and didn’t change
2.You have small changes so you will need new diopters for your lenses, that offers you more comfort and better vision

I only talk about astigmatism here because the modifications are usually small from one consult to the next one (presuming you do a consult once a year).

You did change your lenses and now you see blurry, so you are not in any of the two categories from above. This can mean two things:

1.Something happened with your eye in a short time. This could happen after your last consult and this is why the lens from that eye is not good. I say this because if you had it before, you would be noticed at that consultation.
Put it like this: any deterioration of the vision in a short time (a few days) means an eye condition that needs immediate attention from an eye-doctor so maybe it would be good to make a full consultation (eye pressure, retinal exam).

2.Something is wrong with your glasses. Maybe they had written down your diopters the wrong way when they ordered the lenses or maybe they had mounted them the in a wrong way in the frame. This can happen because of the many characteristics to take in consideration when ordering and mounting the lens (spherical diopter, cylindrical diopter, axis, interpupillary distance ). If any of them is wrong, you will see blurry.

My advice is that you should go back to the optical shop first and check the diopters and your prescription to see is everything is right. Then, if all is good there but still blurry, you should go to the eye-doctor and check your eyes.

If you wear glasses for a long time and with every change, you improve your vision, then your optometrist should go on like this at every consultation.

The dominant eye problem and the changes you mention are significant, so I think he should tell you about and discuss it with you before making them. The optometrist cannot temper with your vision without telling you that, so I would say is probably a fitting mistake or a prescription error not an intentional change.

Hope this helps,
Arpi

Search This Site!